Australia recently hosted the first Global Nature Positive Summit in Sydney. EDO, along with Businesses, scientists, Traditional Owners, financial institutions, regulators, eNGOs, and government representatives from across the world met to discuss a shared goal of reversing nature destruction and investing in nature positive solutions.
The international vision of ‘nature positive’ drawing on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was explored through presentations of innovative ideas and unlikely partnerships. Breakout seminars and workshops shared ideas and solutions. Welcome announcements for significant marine conservation were made by the Australian Minister for the Environment. But there was one (rather endangered) elephant in the room asking where are our new nature positive laws to achieve this idea of nature positive in Australia?
This legal update explores what we really need for Australia to be ‘nature positive.’
What is ‘nature positive’?
Nature positive means halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 from a 2020 baseline, through measurable gains in the health, abundance, diversity and resilience of species, ecosystems, and natural processes, and achieving full recovery by 2050.1
The concept of ‘nature positive’ evolved from international negotiations under the Convention for Biological Diversity in 2019. In December 2022, the world adopted this ambition level in the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, with governments committing to 4 goals and 23 targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The goals include that “the integrity, connectivity and resilience of all ecosystems are maintained, enhanced, or restored, substantially increasing the area of natural ecosystems by 2050” and “human induced extinction of known threatened species is halted”. The Framework also includes specific targets for conserving 30 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and of marine and coastal areas, by 2030. With the expansion of the Macquarie and Heard Island Marine Park as announced by Minister Plibersek at the Summit, the Government is confident that Australia has now ‘blitzed’ the 30% marine protection target well-ahead of the 2030 due date. The Australian Government has also finalised its 30 by 30 National Roadmap, setting out how it will protect and conserve 30% of Australia’s land by 2030.
Galvanising significant public and private sector investment in nature restoration is essential, but a critical foundation for achievement of nature positive is to actually halt the biodiversity loss that is currently occurring. We need to do this on land as well as in our oceans, and to do this effectively we need strong laws.
The Nature Positive Summit
Amid beautiful arrangements of Australian native flora, there were two themes that really resonated with delegates at the summit. First was the importance of centering and empowering First Nations people in nature positive solutions. And acknowledging that we all need to make sure we are good ancestors for the generations to come.
Second was the strong agreement that there is “no net zero without nature positive”. The idea that we need to “fix climate first” and then we can address the biodiversity crisis next was recognised to be nonsense. The climate and biodiversity crises are inextricably linked and so are the solutions. Nature restoration is a crucial part of both climate mitigation and adaptation, and the energy transition can be tackled even while protecting our precious biodiversity. There is no question both the climate and extinction crises need action and solutions by 2030.
While the Summit provided a space for participants across business, government and NGO sector to come together to discuss these themes, and EDO engaged in many conversations about the critical role of law in achieving nature positive outcomes, the summit produced no formal communique or specific commitments on governance or implementation of the nature positive agenda. While the summit wrapped up with positive speeches, the actual bills to implement the concept in Australia remain languishing in the Senate.
The Nature Positive Bills
And this is where it becomes impossible to ignore the trumpeting elephant. To halt and reverse the biodiversity loss, to achieve nature positive development, we need strong environment laws to pass parliament.
It is indisputable that our iconic wildlife and unique landscapes are in peril. Threatened species and ecosystems are at unprecedented risk from destruction, deforestation and climate change. Recognition of the environmental decline in the last State of the Environment Report spurred the Government to announce its Nature Positive Plan for comprehensive law reform. The Nature Positive reforms, which propose to eventually replace our national environmental law with a new act, are intended to turn around the extinction trajectory, and move Australia towards reversal and restoration of ecological harm. However, the reform has now been broken up into stages – and while Australia hosted the Nature Positive Summit, three ‘stage 2’ bills intended to implement the reforms remained stuck in the Senate. Despite being listed for debate during the same sitting week of the summit, the bills have not yet been passed by the parliament.
The Nature Positive Amendment Bills are proposed to implement stage 2 of the Government’s reform package, by establishing a new federal environmental regulator (EPA), creating Environment Information Australia (EIA) to hold environmental data, and making changes to our environmental enforcement regime. As noted in our last legal update, while EPA and EIA are welcome policy proposals, this reform package needs to be strengthened.
When making her keynote address at the summit, the minister optimistically stated that ‘when the bills pass’ Australia will have a national EPA and new environmental information office. We need members of parliament to come to the table and make laws now to move Australia towards nature positive. This means passing laws to start effectively addressing the biodiversity crisis and establish the foundation for the full suite of comprehensive new national environment laws that are so urgently needed.
Christmas trees are already in the shops and 2025 will be upon us soon, meaning we are already almost halfway through the decade that counts – with only 5 years left to meet 2030 goals for both climate and nature. There are just a few sitting weeks left to pass the bills this year and ensure nature positive is not just a slogan but a measurable goal for the Australian environment.
For further discussion of nature positive and the summit, tune into: Why we need nature positive laws – urgently – ABC listen with Marco Lambertini, Convenor Nature Positive Initiative and Rachel Walmsley EDO.
- See Nature Positive Initiative <The-Definition-of-Nature-Positive.pdf (naturepositive.org) > ; WWF <Nature Positive | WWF (panda.org) >; Oxford Nature Positive Hub <What is Nature Positive? | The Oxford Nature Positive Hub > ↩︎
